


Rewrite the Stars

by Ilya_Boltagon, siambre



Series: The Universe Turns Differently [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drama, Extramarital Affairs, Gen, Katara is not perfect, Mutual Pining, Past Aang/Katara (Avatar), Past Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Post-Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zutara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:14:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28657050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilya_Boltagon/pseuds/Ilya_Boltagon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/siambre/pseuds/siambre
Summary: In the ten years following the end of the Hundred Years' War, peace has spread across the world. A secret kept from the Avatar, however, reveals that all is not well in the world for him, his family, and friends.'Love is the water of life. And a lover is the soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water.'~Shams-i Tabrīzī
Relationships: Izumi & Kya II (Avatar), Izumi & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Kya II (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Kya II & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: The Universe Turns Differently [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2106546
Comments: 9
Kudos: 17





	Rewrite the Stars

Aang smiled a little as Katara's humming a lullaby to one-year-old Tenzin sounded from upstairs. Their youngest rarely went to take a nap without a fuss. Kya, newly three, was playing with a toy lemur at his feet, chattering away--to herself or the toy, Aang had no idea.

“Look, Daddy!” Kya clapped her hands. “Look what I can do!”

Aang glanced from the letter he'd been writing to the floor where his daughter was playing, expecting her to be making the toy lemur 'fly' or something, as Bumi had when he'd been three, just before Kya had been born. Instead, Aang's eyes widened as he registered what he was looking at.

Kya was conjuring fire.

Aang froze, his mind whirling. He was the Avatar, master of all four elements. Was it possible that one of his children could be a bender of an element not of either of her birth peoples? He closed his eyes, trying to recall what he knew of past Avatars and their descendants. No. There had never been a case of an Avatar's child harnessing an element not their own. Any child of his and Katara's should have been an airbender, a waterbender, or a non-bender. Nothing else was possible. Yet there Kya sat, gleefully and innocently playing with a palmful of tiny flames. Aang felt as if his blood had turned to ice. Kya had always resembled Katara far more than she had him, unlike Bumi, but he'd never thought...

“Katara,” he managed to rasp out, his voice taut with strain. He looked away as Katara- his wife of almost seven years- came running downstairs, then into the sitting room with a concerned look on her features. He felt sick.

“Aang, what's wrong? You sounded... strange.”

Aang felt bile rise in his throat as he made himself look at the little girl on the floor at his feet. When he spoke again, his voice carried none of the despair it'd held previously--now, it was as expressionless as his face. “Kya, show your mother what you just showed me.”

As he'd thought, flames sprouted again in both of Kya's chubby fists. The toddler shrieked with delight--the fire clearly wasn't hurting her. Katara let out a gasp, running over and snatching Kya up, cradling her in her arms, and using her own waterbending to quench the flames, making Kya pout.

“Aang, I-I...”

Aang cut across her stuttering, saying it for her. “Your daughter is a firebender.” Her daughter. For Kya could not be his.

Katara backed up a step, avoiding his eyes. “Aang... I-I can expla-”

Aang just snapped, unable to listen to her feeble excuses. She'd betrayed him, then lied to him for years, letting him think Kya was his! He'd loved her! “EXPLAIN WHAT, KATARA! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA EXPLAIN?!” He felt the tattoos on his hands start glowing as he shook with anger.

Katara set Kya down, ushering her into the hallway, then closed the door and took a step closer to him. “Aang, it...” She sighed, her eyes glistening with tears. “It was just an accident.”

Aang stepped toward her. He'd never been more aware that he was taller than her now, as he loomed over her. “JUST AN ACCIDENT?! KATARA YOU-” He cut himself off and walked to the window, trying to control himself. “When?” He eventually forced out through clenched teeth.

“When what?”

He whipped around. How dare she act like she didn't know what he was asking?! “When did it happen?” he asked, somehow managing to stop his Avatar State from taking over.

Katara hung her head, her face pale. “During the Peace Summit... 4 years ago.”

Aang's fists clenched and unclenched. "When I wasn't there." His grey eyes, full of fury, tore into her. "Who was it?"

Katara's hands shook. Bad enough that he knew of this, to tell him who it had been... it would destroy him. Even though it was tearing her apart, she and Kya's father had sworn to keep this a secret, for Aang's sake. She couldn't do this to him or Aang. She had to keep it a secret. "I... I don't know, I..." she sighed again, "I was really drunk."

Aang tried once again to take deep breaths. "Drunk," he spat out the word like venom, then whirled around again as if he couldn't bear to look at her. "Get out."

"W-what?"

"I need- I _want_ you to take Kya and leave. I can't be around you right now."

Katara's head swam. "But... Bumi and Tenzin..."

"I'll take care of them. Assuming I can trust that _they_ are in fact mine?" Aang's voice was scathing.

Tears began to form in her eyes. He was right to assume the worst of her--she had _done_ the worst to him. "Of course, they are... Aang-"

"OUT!" Aang shouted, slamming his fists on the frame of the window. "I don't ever want to see you again! EVER! Get out of my house before I do something both of us will regret!"

Choking back a sob, Katara ran from the room, snatching up Kya and racing outside as the whole house trembled in Aang's rage.

Her daughter clung to her, picking up on her mother's tension, as Katara took several deep breaths while tears stung her eyes. She'd lived a lie for almost four years to protect Aang, but now she'd hurt him anyway. Maybe it would be for the best if she did leave, for a while, let him cool down.

Tenzin was only a year old--he wouldn't truly register her absence as long as he was cared for, and she knew Aang would do that. Bumi, however... What would he think, returning from school to find his mother and sister just... gone?

"Mommy? Is Daddy angwy?" Kya spoke into her mother's hair, her voice quavering.

Katara stroked her daughter's thick, brown hair and placed a sad kiss on it. "Of course not, honey. Daddy's just... He's going through a lot, at the moment," she said, kissing the top of her hair again. "He loves you."

"But I did the fire and he yelled at you."

"I know, but it's not your fault, baby, OK? He just needs some time to calm down. I think you and me need to go visit some old friends for a while."

"Is Bumi and 'Zin coming too?" Kya asked innocently, twirling a strand of her mother's hair around her finger.

Katara's eyes burned at the thought of being away from her sons, but for now... maybe it was best. She could write to Bumi once she and her daughter were safe...

"No, sweetie, it'll be just you and me."

"Where we goin'?"

Katara swallowed hard. "We're going to visit Mama's friend Zuko in Caldera."


End file.
